Friday, November 5, 2010

Baby Got Back

When we moved into our little house, I immediately tackled the builder's beige walls with Pismo Dunes in the main areas (living room and hallway), Mesa Verde Tan (in the kitchen attached to the living room), and Jamestown Blue as the accent color on the main wall in our living room and the attached mini foyer area. I had the colors picked out before we even had a house, lol! My hubs and I got married 2 weeks after we moved in and had the brilliant idea to have our rehearsal dinner at our house so that everyone could see our new abode. While this idea was convenient to show everyone at one time, it was a NIGHTMARE to get everything finished in time...especially because I had a loooong list of decorative projects I wanted completed besides unpacking and the usual moving tasks. One of these was the kitchen. I did manage to peel off all the pink flowered wallpaper the night before our rehearsal dinner and paint the kitchen with Mesa Verde Tan at 2 am, but wasn't able to tackle the backsplash like I had planned. My quick-fix was to paint it a darker color than the wall (just mixed with black acrylic paint) and a touch of gold acrylic paint for a more interesting effect. While this worked ok, I did not love it.

Fast forward to two years ago when I felt like I was 26 months pregnant and nesting...it was finally time to tackle the backspash! And to do it, I turned to Lowes. I saw faux tin tiles in the store with several finishes (I chose bronze). (I wasn't able to find them online to link, but they have them in the kitchen section of their store.)Since our kitchen is so small, the $16 per sheet price tag didn't break the bank too badly. And they are plastic, cut with scissors, and stick up with double-sided tape...great for a huge pregnant girl in need of an easy project. I think it took me an hour and half from finding my ruler in the garage to putting the little bowl of lemons on the counter for the "after" photo. I am so thrilled with the outcome and they are super easy to keep clean! Look below for pics, materials, and steps. :)

Take a look:

(These are both before, obviously...lol! Notice the ugly first attempt paint job...)

Steps:
1. Measure your walls and order the tiles, get an extra just in case :)
2. Take off all outlet covers.
3. Start measuring tiles/marking cut lines (TIP: apply tiles from the back of your kitchen to the front. For mine, I would have gone from left to right...this makes it so that when you are done, the seams face the opposite way that you look at them...I didn't do this at first and can see a few seams.)
4. Cut tile, apply double sided tape, stick, repeat!
5. When all of your walls are complete, cover your outlet covers (good instructions/illustrations for seamless application are included)
6. Screw the covers back on. Mine were a dark bronze color, so I also colored the screws with my Sharpie for a more seamless look.
7. Clean up materials/wipe counters
8. Add a bowl of lemons to your counter
9. Take pics and smile at your new backsplash!!!

Hope you enjoy! Let me know if something seemed confusing so I can clarify for you :)

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About Me

My name is Katie and I have been a blog-stalker for a couple years now. I have been wanting to start my own blog, but it took be forever to figure out a good name for it. My title "Feels Like Home Now" comes from my desire to create a home that I love and to be surrounded by people and things that inspire me on a daily basis. I hope you enjoy my projects and stories and that I am able to inspire you in the process! Cheers!